The invention relates to improvements in circular knitting of plush or terry fabric, and more specifically relates to a method and means for improving the quality of knitted terry fabric.
Terry fabric may be produced by knitting a backing yarn into a stable structure while simultaneously knitting a terry yarn into loose loops superimposed on the backing yarn, such as in a plated relationship. To develop its relatively longer loops, the terry yarn may be fed and drawn over special sinker ledges separate from the more conventional ledges on which the backing yarn is knit. The terry loop ledges are arranged with a greater spacing from the needle hooks at their fully drawn position than the corresponding spacing of the backing yarn ledges. This known method of knitting is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,886 to Nebel.
A recurrent problem experienced with the production of such terry fabric has been formation of random fabric flaws, where the terry loops have been misknitted. These flaws usually result from a tucking defect in the fabric where a terry loop fails to clear the needle latch when the needle rises to clear height, or where the latch descends from clear height back through a previously cleared loop.